Melchahim
thumb|The insignia of [[Melchiah and his Melcahim.]] The Melchahim were a clan of Nosgothic Vampires during the desolate era of Kain the Scion caused by the collapse of the Pillars of Nosgoth, which appear in the second game in the ''Legacy of Kain'' series, ''Soul Reaver''. They are the children and descendants of Lieutenant Melchiah, who received the lowest amount of Kain's gift, and therefore the entire clan are the weakest of all Nosgothic Vampires; even so they are still incredibly dangerous towards mortals, who will often fall victims to them, luckily for these creatures. The scuttling beasts use the Necropolis as their primary territory, although they have also infested the nearby ruins of Nupraptor's old retreat, similar to the stronger Zephonim who also did not expand their territory's borders. As the retreat is not naturally reachable be creatures that do not fly or swim, it is presumed that they instead had large burrows leading into this area. Melchiah's weakness has been passed on to the Melchahim, leaving them with inheriting an unusual physical frailty as well as consistently decaying flesh, their undead bodies barely capable of holding itself together. To overcome this, they must constantly hunt, and skin their victims in order to stitch the skin onto their own forms. They appear too weak to wear regular clothing, and will only wear loincloths and rags, which show their clan sign as is customary amongst their kind. thumb|left|Conceptual artwork of the Melchahim. thumb|Conceptual artwork of the Melchahim. Their frailty forces them to limp as if lame, and their fighting styles appear clumsy and choppy and nearly zombie-like, but they show a tenacity at furiously fast burrowing. As their dark gift involves a natural affinity to the spectral realm, and their burrowing abilities may in fact have more to do with a primitive version of phase shifting over actual burrowing strength, though this has never been proven. When killing victims, they will first drink their blood through telekinesis and then chew off the flesh and skin of the dead in order to patch themselves up. Suspicions arose amongst the other clans that the Melchahim had been resurrecting long-dead corpses into vampires instead of creating them from still-living Humans, and this act was considered low even for the Vampiric Empire's standards. This is a coincidence as the clans have mostly been kept from knowing that the lieutenants themselves had also been raised this way. Fledgling Melchahim thumb|A fledgling Melchahim. Fledglings are the recently-resurrected vampires of the clan, and as such are by far the weakest of the group. Their weakened bodies are devastated by sunlight's touch as well as the weaker rays of Nosgoth's daylight, despite that it has been filtered through hazy smoke created by Turel and his Turelim at the smoke stack in order to protect the clans. They are smart enough to avoid patches of light but should they be knocked or tossed into it it will kill them. Their recent transformation has left their skin to remain in regular human tones, though they already heavily bear the scars of decay. When transforming into an adult and later their various transformations, the Melchahim will burrow into the ground, usually in cemetery soil, and pupate, only being obvious by the presence of the disturbed ground. Surprisingly, certain members will awaken immediately and break off their pupation. Adult Melchahim thumb|An adult Melchahim. Adults have reached vampiric maturity and are now able to survive Nosgoth's smoke-filtered daylight without immolating, although pure daylight will still kill them. Their skin tones have become distorted to a green hue and their clothes have for the majority of their kind become far more tattered than a fledglings would have been. They do not appear to care about this. Category:Legacy of Kain Category:Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Category:Enemies Category:Monsters Category:Species Category:Mammals Category:Undead Category:Dead Characters Category:Sick Characters Category:Vampires